Is There Love Behind Trump’s Love-Hate Relationship With Kamala Harris?

The classic rom-com trope calls for two very different people to be thrown together by chance. They fight and fight and fight… until they fall hopelessly in love.

Donald Trump’s repeated statements that Vice President Kamala Harris is “beautiful” suggest that he sees her not just as his bitter rival, but as an attractive woman. To paraphrase Trump’s cringey comment that, “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her,” he seems to be signaling, “If Kamala weren’t my opponent, perhaps I’d be dating her.”

Here are six points to support the theory that Trump is crushing on Harris.

1. Trump Has a History of Seeking Out Forbidden Love

Trump is no stranger to sexual taboo. He had an affair with his second wife, Marla Maples, while still married to first, Ivana. Third wife Melania followed and, months after she gave birth, Trump allegedly invited porn star Stormy Daniels back to his hotel suite for “dinner.” Allowing himself to feel attracted to Harris feels equally impulsive and dangerous.

Mostly, Trump has gotten away with these sexual transgressions, but not always. He was caught bragging on tape that fame gives him license to grab women “by the p---y,” and writer E. Jean Carroll sued him for sexual abuse. She won her case.

2. Trump May Be Feeling Lonely

Melania showed up in the final moments on the final night of the Republican National Convention. When she walked up next to her husband, he acted surprised to see her.

Melania allowed Donald to kiss her on the cheek. She did not kiss him back. Other than this very public appearance, the Trumps don’t seem to spend a lot of time together. In addition to Melania staying off the campaign trail, Ivanka and former aide Hope Hicks have also abandoned the candidate. And while Trump has found a substitute in glamorous deputy communications chief Margo Martin, he’s still short a few good women. With this frame of mind, Trump may have turned his lonely eyes to Harris.

In an interview with Elon Musk on X, Trump admitted that he was captivated by a Time magazine cover that featured his opponent. “[Kamala] looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live,” Trump said, adding, “It was a drawing. And actually, she looked very much like our great first lady, Melania.”

This statement only makes sense if it’s been a while since Trump has seen his wife and is just going by a vague memory. Or the comparison of the two women could be Trump’s subconscious suggesting, “Don’t fight me, Kamala. Rule with me!”

3. Classic Crush Move: Taunting the Object of Desire

The Game, a 2005 instruction manual for pickup artists, encouraged men to insult women they were attracted to. Preying on a woman’s insecurity would prompt her to work harder to gain the man’s approval. Trump lobs a lot of insults at Harris but he also negged on Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. However, there’s one new insult. Twice, Trump has insisted that he is “better looking” than Harris.

This is a weird thing to say. Men and women rarely compete head-on for attractiveness. Still, Trump may be hoping that his neg will cause Harris to stamp her foot and say, “He is not better looking than me!” She’ll be mad, but in true rom-com style, she’ll also be thinking about Trump physically.

4. Harris Is Actually Trump’s Type

Given Trump’s embrace of white nationalism, it feels strange that he would consider dating a woman of color. However, in the late 1990s, Trump had a two-year relationship with dark-haired, bi-racial former model Kara Young. (Young went on to marry billionaire shipping magnate Peter Georgiopoulos. She obviously has a type, too.)

5. The Willie Brown Connection

Trump likes to remind everyone that Harris used to date San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who was three decades older than his then-girlfriend. Both Harris and Brown were single and it’s old news so why bring it up unless… Trump likes reminding himself that Harris was once open to dating older, powerful men. It means he has a chance.

6. Trump Pursues Stars

In 1997, Howard Stern pressed Trump on whether the real estate developer could have “nailed” Princess Diana.

“I think I could have,” Trump replied.

Poor Diana. Can one throw up in a coffin?

Trump has a long history of trying to romance global stars. The list includes Salma Hayek, Candace Bergen, and Vladimir Putin. Right now, Harris is the biggest star in the world.

The verdict? Of course, Trump has a crush on a beautiful brunette with massive star power who appears to like older men. And all those terrible things Harris says about Trump being “a fraudster” and “a coward” and “a cheat”?

In a rom-com, that’s just flirting.

Nell Scovell is the author of the memoir “Just the Funny Parts: And a few Hard Truths about Sneaking into the Hollywood Boys’ Club”.